Speak Up Project

I started a Facebook group just the other day for Speak Up Project. I knew it would be a difficult thing to get others to sign on to. Asking people to declare a stance on something is no easy task. The problem is most people don’t really have a point of view about something in the first place, so they don’t want to be responsible for owning up to that.

I can respect that, and don’t expect others to associate themselves with what they don’t know. That’s where a call to education comes in.

You see, here at Speak Up, we’re talking about a problem. The problem isn’t that the Internet is free and full of information. The problem isn’t that we’re scared of that information attacking us and holding us hostage in world of robots and microchips. We’re not doomsdayists. We actually have a positive outlook.

The problem is that we’re trying to tell people that the bad of the Internet is linked to an issue of Internet governance. Many youth don’t even know what that is. They don’t know how it affects them. As long as they get online, get what they want, and get off then they are happy.

So then why are we so concerned? For a few reasons.

1. Pornography - Pornography is known to be destructive. Sure, there are people who are going to say that they enjoy it with their spouses, or it’s something they do just some of the time. However studies prove that it has some side effects that are detrimental.

• Broken homes and marriages - So many couples break up because of pornography. Many people who have problems are less apt to solve them and more apt to go to a quick fix for pleasure. Could it be called a drug? I look at it this way… would you be upset if your spouse was cheating on you and getting his/her pleasure with another human? Then why is it okay that they’re doing it with a computer? They are still going elsewhere for pleasure, not you. They still are building up in their mind a defense against facing life’s problems. Sometimes couples fight and argue… the ones who work it out usually find out they still love each other and are able to rekindle past romances.
• Degrading to women - In a society that’s so obsessed with trying to eradicate problems with discrimination and hatred, it appalls me that we are okay with pornography. I’ve seen countless accounts of women saying how embarrassing and degrading it is for them. How can we turn our head one way and fight for the right for women to be respected and honored and then conversely allow to have pornography in our homes?
• Porn destroys productivity, it’s in the stats - CP80’s site has some interesting stats up about how porn truly effects productivity beyond the personal life. It actually effects the professional life. Sorry, but read the stats.

So we’ve said before we don’t like to take a moral stance… I mean if you’re okay with all the things I mentioned before and pornography in your home is a green light.. then that’s another story. I guess we do have to retract our point and say that we think pornography does more harm than good.

2. Security - I read an interesting article about Internet security and how amazing it is that we just trust the Internet. We hear about Identity theft, robbery, hacking, etc. all the time. I also read about how terrorist organizations are proclaiming that the Internet is a cheap and easy tool to push their terrorist efforts. They’re not shy about that.

So when did a little security ever hurt us? All at the expense of some governance?

3. Protecting rights with government is more effective than not - History proves that trying to protect rights like free speech without something to govern those rights is fruitless. I don’t know why people seem to think the Internet is different. By turning a blind eye to the issues when they crop up because we want to be able to say and do what we want, we give in to oppressive material. What happens when the number of child pornographers and people into child pornography eventually outnumber the number of measures and people willing to resolve the issue? Do we just accept it at that point?

The Internet has some amazing content, all for our use. The progress with things like Web 2.0 and open source software is proving to be an essential tool in taking technology to the people. There are ways however to make things work more effectively. We don’t need to just let the Internet happen if it starts to prove dangerous.

My Facebook group has got a bit of attention, and people are sharing their views. I like that. I don’t care if they hate or love our ideas… I think the debate only gives way to finding a solution. I think that turning people’s minds on to the idea that the Internet needs more interaction will help feed the fire that organizations like ICANN know that they should be putting out.